Thursday, February 28, 2008

This was posted on Digg this morning, but the link went down pretty quickly. Someone posted the content in the comments though and I thought it was funny...and true. At work we were recently evaluating resumes for a web position we had open and I wish I had had this list (even though it is on the jokey side) for my boss to review before we looked at some of them. The good thing is we ended up with a great hire in spite of all the crap resumes anyway.

Any web guy that calls himself a "webmaster" probably isn't a master of anything. The term "webmaster" has become a translation for the word "amateur." The web has diversified into so many different realms that webmaster is no longer meaningful (was it ever though?)

2. He's a FrontPage Expert

Any developer / designer with a degree knows that Microsoft FrontPage most definitely isn't a professional tool. FrontPage will pass for Mom and Dad who want to create a website dedicated to their dogs, not someone who's trying to do business. I'd argue that a solid Web Developer should work at code level.

3. He'll Submit Your Website to [Inflated Number Here] Search Engines

Submitting your website to hundreds of search engines would be great...10 years ago. Websites are indexed by relevant search engines by how rich their content and keywords are. Search engine optimization is big business and submitting sites to search engines simply isn't the way to get to the top of Google.

4. He Wants a "Designed By ...." Plug on the Bottom of Every Page

You've paid this person to create a marketing tool for you -- not a billboard for him. Your website is a launch pad for your business and Poindexter McScooner is simply the man behind the curtain -- keep him there.

5. He Created a Cool Website for [Insert Family Member / Friend Here]

Your business needs someone who's been there before. The most common answer to my "Who was he and what business did they work for?" question is "Oh, he did a website for the CEO's daughter's [insert lame organization here]." I honestly hear that friend-of-a-friend story all the time. Choose someone with a sizable portfolio that can provide references.

6. He Can Make You a Great Splash Page Flash Animation

Translation: "I can spend dozens of hours wasting your money to create something that will take too long to load and will be skipped more times than dessert at a bad restaurant." Consistency and website flow are important to web design -- not meaningless animations that waste visitors' time and your money.

7. He Mentions He's a HTML Expert

Who the hell isn't? I would argue that dropping any language acronym on a customer (PHP, Ruby on Rails, ColdFusion, etc.) unless they ask is meaningless fluff. A mechanic could use a banana on my car if it would fix it. Keep your tools, especially HTML, to yourself -- the customer doesn't care.

8. He'll Fit a Cool Counter on Your Site

You'll add an ugly relic of the early internet on my site so that my competitors have an idea of my web stats? Sweet!Counters make a website look as unprofessional as possible -- don't use them.

9. He'll Place a "Best If View in..." Message on Your Website

Any real Web Developer knows that he doesn't make the rules. Follow standards in the initial build and then fix it in Internet Explorer -- that's the flow. No responsible programmer would place a "best if view in..." message on the front-end of a website.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Ariana Huffington had an insightful analysis yesterday, IMHO, of the latest Clinton campaign rhetoric. I was also pleased to read someone finally pointing out that Hillary's supposed 35 years of experience claim is silly. She's only been a Senator for only a few more years than Obama and years as a first lady don't exactly count as experience as an elected official. I will grant her that it does season one to dealing with political attacks a bit more. I don't think her campaign should be claiming it as experience in getting things done, however.

The most striking thing here though is the observation that while Obama says "Yes WE can" Hillary is all about "Yes I can" and therein lies the problem for her campaign.

Monday, February 18, 2008

This article discusses precisely why I have not been in favor of Hillary getting the Democratic nomination this year. My not voting for her has nothing to do with her being female, ability as a leader, experience, or the fact that I loved her husband's presidency. It has everything to do with how vehemently Republicans dislike her and I truly feel that if she wins the nomination, they'll come out in droves to oppose her. I think this is where someone who is "untested" has a clear advantage in the general election. Especially if that person is as charismatic and as easily likable by everyone as Barack Obama. While dear John Edwards isn't in the race anymore, I still think he would not have had the galvanizing effect within the GOP that Hillary Clinton has.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

I just saw a bit on Huffington Post's "Eat the Press" about what the press is overlooking about the Hillary Clinton campaign shake-up and found it very very interesting. They point to a couple of articles in the Atlantic and New Republic detailing the mismanagement of the campaign by Patti Solis Doyle. The kicker is that she should have been replaced far earlier in the campaign, but Clinton avoided it. This really makes me raise my eyebrows at her claims that her experience trumps Obama's supposed lack of experience. I guess this Solis Doyle lady also concealed how much money the campaign was hemorrhaging and considering that Hillary had a very large war chest, it is truly shocking that she had to take out a $5 million loan to cover costs. Anyway...I'm rambling. The articles explain it way better. Take a read:

Monday, February 11, 2008

Old school Democrats emphasize economic justice and opportunity. The Democratic ideal is best summarized by the Four Freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Number 2 is coming along fine with no troubles. She feels a bit bigger than Kira did (at least I feel a lot more encumbered this time around anyway). I don't have gestational diabetes this time, so it'll be a surprise when she actually decides to make an appearance rather than a scheduled date like we conveniently had with Kira. We're kind of blown away by how fast these months have gone by. We've had so much going on - especially with mom moving and the holidays and regular day to day stuff that it's just suddenly so close.

Kira and I were both sick this weekend with some kind of chest cold, but we're starting to get better.